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This post is going to be all about Principle #10: Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition and the next steps you can take to start practicing Intuitive Eating.

If you do a search of Intuitive Eating on social media or Google, you may see lots of images of donuts or ice cream and messages about eating whatever the heck you want. Because of this, Intuitive Eating has often been falsely named the “junk food” diet, or the “screw nutrition” diet. But Intuitive Eating does acknowledge the importance and value of a nutritious diet, which is why there’s a whole principle devoted to it. However, Tribole and Resch (2012) believe that addressing nutrition and healthy eating is best practiced once someone has been practicing the other principles for a while and has cultivated a healthy relationship with food i.e. out of the diet mentality.​It’s easy for someone in a dieting mind to turn any nutrition information into a rigid rule and enable the distorted good/bad dichotomous thinking. So they made Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition the last principle for a reason, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less important in becoming an Intuitive Eater. If you’re still struggling with giving yourself unconditional permission to eat all foods or there’s still feelings of guilt and fear around food, then you may not be ready to practice this principle yet.

In Intuitive Eating, healthy eating means eating foods that honor your health, that are satisfying to you, and that leave you feeling physically well. So maybe when you were practicing Make Peace With Food, there was a period of time where you ate ice cream every night, for example, to help make that food “legal”, and that was an essential thing to do to break through the psychological barriers of food rules. But maybe you didn’t physically feel great eating so much ice cream all the time. And maybe this happened with a few or many different foods that would be considered less nutritious. If you’ve been rigidly restricting yourself some or many foods for a while, I really believe that this is a crucial step for you to go through, even if you don’t feel great physically or are eating less nutritious foods for a bit. But as you get better at giving yourself unconditional permission to eat all foods, and tune into your hunger/fullness and satisfaction cues, and leave the food guilt and anxiety behind, you will be in a much better place to incorporate nutritious food choices in your diet in a way that is respecting your physical and mental/emotional health. Making informed food choices based in nutrition is important, but it is just a small part of self-care and healthy eating practices in Intuitive Eating.

OK, so if you feel ready to start practicing Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition, here are some things to consider first:

One source of information we consume that can contribute to rigid food rules and distorted cognitions, are from the headlines you read about in “health” magazines or the newspaper. For example, one day coffee is good for you, the next it’s bad. Or eggs were demonized for their high cholesterol content for decades, but now they have been redeemed as healthy. The point is, take all nutrition research headlines with a grain of salt. Research studies are still very important, but they can also be flawed and problematic. Science is pretty clear on some general guidelines about nutrition (which I’ll get into below), but be wary if any headline or diet demonizes any one specific food or food group. Moreover, also be wary if a headline or diet glorifies a specific nutrient, food or food group (e.g. “superfoods”). There is not one nutrient or food that is going to make you lose or gain weight, or cure or cause your ailments. For example, a higher vegetable consumption is linked to lower risk of many chronic diseases, but we can’t say it’s because of one specific food, like kale or carrots. So when making nutritious choices about food, don’t get caught up in the minor details, think about the bigger picture and overall pattern of the foods you eat.

Worrying about nutrition and the anxiety of making sure you’re eating the healthiest foods is another form of stress. And in our diet and nutrition-obsessed society, it’s understandable how easily anyone (dieters and non-dieters) can feel some level of anxiety or confusion when it comes to food choices. Taken to the extreme, the pursuit of “healthy” eating can lead to a pseudo eating disorder called Orthorexia and ironically can actually cause very unhealthy physical and mental/emotional behaviours around food. There is nothing wrong with wanting to eat healthy foods, but if eating healthy means being rigid and obsessive about what goes in your mouth and takes away from the joy and satisfaction of eating, then this is not true healthy eating anymore. Gentle Nutrition is just that- gentle. Considering nutrition when you make your choices about food should not, and does not, have to be stressful. It’s just a part of the Intuitive Eating process of tuning into what you want and need while also considering basic nutrition.

Here are the general guidelines that Tribole and Resch (2012) suggest when considering practicing Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition:

Eat a variety of foods. Most people tend to eat the same 10-15 foods over and over again. Dieters, especially are used to cutting out foods and having a more narrow selection of foods to choose from. Variety does not mean you have to have every colour of vegetable on your plate every day. It could mean that you try a new vegetable every couple weeks or try a different cut of meat. Variety also increases the novelty factor of food, thereby increasing your satisfaction and enjoyment of eating.

Eat moderate amounts of food. Moderate can mean different things to people. Some may have a negative association with this idea due to meal plans with “moderate” portions, but are really too little food, for example. In Intuitive Eating, there is no specific portion sizes. Moderate simply means, not too much and not too little, of any food. And the way to know what that means to you is to practice tuning into your hunger/fullness and satisfaction cues. And some days you may want or need more of a certain food (e.g. you may need more carbohydrates if you were physically active), and other days you may be satisfied with less. The more you’re in tune with your body, and the more you give yourself permission to eat all foods, the more easily it will be to eat foods in moderate amounts, and avoid the extremes of restricting or binging.

Eat a balance of foods over time. Similar to eating a variety of foods, you don’t have to have a perfect balance of all the food groups on your plate, or even throughout your day, all the time. Balance is achieved over time. Maybe one day you felt like eating more carbohydrates and one day you ate more fat or protein. Or maybe one day you ate lots of veggies and the next you didn’t have one. It’s OK. Balance is not about perfection- it’s about what you’re eating on average, over a period of time. Your body is super smart and can handle these fluctuations in nutrients.

Consider the taste of food. Eating healthy is often associated with “bland” or “boring” food. Delicious food is often associated with desserts and comfort foods. But healthy foods do not have to be tasteless. If steamed vegetables brings back memories of your mother telling you to “eat your veggies”, then maybe experiment with other ways to eat vegetables that you can enjoy. Grilling, sauteing, or maybe “hiding” them into a lasagna is a tastier way to eat them. Healthy eating does not have to be plain chicken breast and broccoli. Hallelujah! Healthy food can be tasty and enjoyable. It may just take a bit of trial and error to find what you enjoy.

Consider the quality of food. Many diets, especially the “wellness” diets are all about the quality of foods. And though quality of food can be important and can make a difference with your health and how you feel, it should not be turned into obsessive or guilt-ridden rules. So please don’t turn the following suggestions into rigid rules, but more as information you can keep in mind when making food choices:

Eat enough fruit and vegetables. We know by now they are high in fibre and nutrients. They are often considered “diet” foods, so if you have trouble finding joy in eating fruits and vegetables, maybe try different kinds or different ways of preparing them that would be tasty to you.

Eat enough complex carbohydrates. This includes foods like whole grains, potatoes, squash, rice, and bread. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of energy, and complex carbohydrates also contain fibre and vitamins and minerals.

Eat enough protein. This includes foods like eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, poultry, red meat, tofu, beans and legumes. Proteins are the essential building blocks of the body, important for your bones, nails, hair, muscle tissue, hormones, and enzymatic processes, to name a few. Protein is often touted as a diet food because it is known to help preserve lean muscle tissue while losing weight and keeps you fuller longer after meals. Those are not bad things, but don’t think you have to eat tons of protein every meal to be healthy. Again, choose protein sources you like and eat enough of it throughout your day.

Eat enough fat. This includes foods like fatty fish, avocados, nuts and seeds, cream, butter, coconut oil, and olive oil. Fat is an essential nutrient, important to absorb certain vitamins, produce hormones, as well as provide another fuel source for the body. Fat also makes meals tastier and more satisfying.

Drink enough water. Water is an essential nutrient. Try to stick with plain water (or squeeze some lemon or lime in it for flavour), or teas as your main fluid sources and minimize sugary drinks. It’s OK to have a sugary beverage sometimes if you want, just beware that sugary drinks can sometimes mess up with your internal hunger/fullness cues.

In general, choosing higher quality, more nutrient-dense foods more of the time, will probably give you more energy and longer lasting satiety throughout your day. But there is still room for what Intuitive Eating calls play foods.

Play foods are what people often consider highly refined or processed foods, such as baked goods, fried foods, fast food, chips, chocolate, ice cream and candy. The reasons they call them “play foods” and not “junk food” is because “junk food” implies that these foods are “bad” and have no value in a healthful diet. But Intuitive Eating would argue that these foods DO have a place and actually play a very important role in healthy eating. Play foods are part of satisfying the pleasure principle of eating. If eating a piece of cheesecake gives you pleasure and satisfies what you wanted in that moment, without any guilt or anxiety, then it’s OK to eat it even if it doesn’t have a high nutrition value. Once you’ve been through the process of giving yourself permission to eat all foods, play foods just become another food. Ones you can enjoy- not restrict or binge on.

Intuitive Eaters may choose to eat some play foods every day, weekly, or monthly. There’s no rules about how much play foods you “should” or “shouldn’t” eat. If you are in tune with your hunger/fullness and satisfaction cues, you will know when and how much play foods you want.

I will also add briefly, “Honor Your Health” also means that if you have a medical condition or allergy that restricts certain foods, you respect those needs, of course. For example, if you have Celiac, you will probably feel awful if you eat gluten. So part of honoring your health would be to eat gluten-free foods. But if that is the case, for example, you can still try to choose gluten-free foods that you enjoy and will satisfy you as well.

I think Tribole and Resch (2012) sum-up this last principle nicely when they say:

“Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel well. Remember that you don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters- progress not perfection is what counts” (p.196).

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this ten part series of Intuitive Eating. I didn't share many personal anecdotes throughout this series, as there was so much information just from the book alone to get through! But trust me, I have gone through ALL of the principles throughout my own recovery from eating disorders and rigid dieting behaviours.

To be honest, I didn’t actually go through the book in any systematic or organized way. But I have experienced each principle in some shape or form along my journey of healing and now fully believe in the Intuitive Eating model and process. I have been totally steeped in diet culture and worried about every bite of food I ate. I have hated my body and myself and felt unworthy. I have abused and punished my body out of the fear of getting fat. I have exercised just to burn calories so that I could feel OK about eating. I have been filled with guilt and shame about my thoughts, feelings and behaviours around food for years. I have felt completely stuck and hopeless that I would ever be able to feel any different about myself, food or my body.

So know you are not alone. And you don’t have to stay stuck and unhappy. It is totally possible to live your life fully and happily without obsessing over food and your body. And you deserve to make peace with food and your body.

Remember though, there is no one right path of becoming an Intuitive Eater. Your journey through the non-diet path will look different from mine or someone else’s. But if any or all of these posts in this series resonated with you, please do yourself a favour and buy the book. It is a small investment for the benefits you can get from reading it. You can also buy the workbook as a complement or a stand alone item to help you get started on your Intuitive Eating journey.

If you feel you need some extra help and support in practicing these principles, you can find a list of certified Intuitive Eating practitioners here (fyi - I'm on this list!) or book your free consult with me here.

If you have any questions about these blog posts or Intuitive Eating, feel free to connect with me here. I’d be happy to help you out!

**Disclaimer- these blog posts are not meant to replace medical or psychological advice or treatment. They are meant for educational purposes only. If you’re suffering from an eating disorder, please seek the help that you deserve to get better. The Intuitive Eating book is speaking mostly to people who have been chronically dieting, emotionally eating, and engaging in other disordered eating behaviours. But there is a section on how Intuitive Eating can be part of an eating disorder treatment plan, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. However, because eating disorders can be very serious, and life threatening illnesses, I’d suggest to seek out a qualified professional or health team to support you along your recovery. See my full disclaimer here.

References Tribole, E. & Resch, E. (2012) Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press

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Danielle Lithwick M.A., founder of Move Out Of Madness, delivers in-home personal training, online personal training and intuitive eating coaching, in Ottawa, ON and worldwide. And especially loves calisthenics training and carbs. Read more about her here. **This blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice. See full disclaimer here.